From the desk of Rabbi Yosef Sanders:
The Horrors in Monsey - In My Backyard!
Dear Shul Family,
I take the Forshay Rd. terror very personally.
I grew up in Monsey, in the "newer" section of town, two miles north of the "city centre".
Our first High Holidays in Monsey was a memorable Service held in a Yeshiva housed in a former chicken coop, around the corner from Forshay.
The quadrant we lived in was bordered by Rt. 306 on the east, Viola Rd. to the south, Grandview to the north, and Forshay to the west.
This was the default route we took when taking a spin by bicycle.
I am a bit of a Minyan-hopping addict, and enjoyed "checking out" each Shul as they cropped up. In recent years, when visiting my parents, I would invariably begin my trip with a dawn Minyan in Toronto (usually at the Sefardic Kehilla Centre - I'm a bit of a closet Sefardi at heart), arriving in Monsey around 2 PM, giving myself a good chunk of the day with Mom and Dad to visit and help with the various chores and tasks. The return trip would begin with a hop over to Forshay for their dawn Services, to allow an early arrival in Toronto. Indeed, just last year, I found myself in such a Minyan, on Forshay, before getting onto the highway.
So this machete-wielding madman's attack hits me in the solar plexis. As they say, there, but for the Grace of G-d, go I.
Rabbinic leaders have long advised that anti-Semitic attacks are a message from Above. G-d is calling us to action, asking us to focus on the eternal Jewish message, and re-calibrate, so that our daily life reflects the values of our Heritage.
What specific message can we perceive here?
From Pittsburgh to Poway,and now on to New York, there seem to be attacks covering the full spectrum of the Jewish community, from the least engaged Jews to the most engaged.
The Chanukah timing of this last assault is quite striking, as there is a similar cross-spectrum thread running through the battles of Chanukah. As attested to in the "Al haNisim" section added into the Silent Prayer and Birkat haMazon, the enemy was vanquished, "The impure in the hands of the pure; the evil in the hands of the righteous, and the vicious in the hands of those steeped in Torah". Apparently, each Jew, at every level, was pressed into service to overcome the powers of the enemy.
We need to heed this message. Each of us, at our own precise level, must review our lives, and determine how we will change; what Mitzvah can we bring into our day, how can we enhance those Mitzvot we already do, and, above all, include a greater involvement in Torah study. Incrementally, to be sure, but a definitive process and commitment are the call of the hour.
Are we ready?
Shabbat Shalom,
Yosef S
